Mario Balotelli's pledge to Brendan Rodgers seals £16m Liverpool move

MARIO BALOTELLI will officially become a Liverpool player on Tuesday and insists he is a reformed character.

Balotelli's move to Liverpool is expected to be confirmed this week [AP]

The striker flies back to Merseyside tomorrow after a swift trip back to his Milan home, having convinced Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers on Friday night that he has matured and won't let his new club down.

The controversial one-time bad boy of Manchester City was told in no uncertain terms that he would be put up for sale if he did step out of line either on or off the pitch.

That's why the £16million deal is packed full of incentives and penalty clauses which has seen the AC Milan striker agree to halve his basic pay packet.

Balotelli was also keen to return to the Premier League to escape the racism which has surrounded him in Italy.

Rodgers will have the 24-year-old available for the trip to Spurs next Sunday.

He had a chequered past but was a model professional in his second spell at Anfield and an example to everyone in how hard he worked

Kenny Dalglish

Although a number of ex-Liverpool stars have expressed surprise in Rodgers pushing the shock transfer through, former boss Kenny Dalglish said: "There are plenty of examples of an 'enfant terrible' arriving at a club with a reputation and then behaving perfectly."

Dalglish admits eyebrows were raised when he signed Wales firebrand Craig Bellamy.

"He had a chequered past but was a model professional in his second spell at Anfield and an example to everyone in how hard he worked.

"Every time a football club signs a player, it constitutes a risk. It is just the risks come in different guises. With Balotelli the risk is nothing to do with his ability to play.

"Some of his performances for Italy in Euro 2012 made him look unplayable."